Are babies born naturally less likely to have ADD/ADHD?

I'm a PhD student at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and also teach at BryanLGH College of Health Sciences. THe course I teach is called Global Community: Cultural Diversity in Health and Illness. Now before you think what kind of Diversity do they have in Nebraska? You need to know that Lincoln was ranked 5th in the United States per capita for resettlement of refugees and we have over 60 languages spoken by children in our public school system.

I watched the movie the Business of Being Born in my Medical Anthropology class and was quite fascinated by the content. I'm showing the movie to my students...who are mostly Sophomore and Junior Nursing students and we are having a person from the Nebraska Midwives group come and dialgoue with the students about this.

I'd like to ask you all a question though...how many of you who have had your babies the natural way have had your children diagnosed with ADD or ADHD? My guess is this rate would be reduced in babies whose Mom's chose natural childbirth as opposed to those who had medication enduced child birth. But I'm not sure...share your thoughts with me.

Replies to This Discussion

My eleven yr old was a natural birth and he was diagnosed with slight ADD which we have been able to correct through diet and behavior. All of my other pregnancies have been induced with pit and I have had nubain. None of my other children seem to have any difficulties except for my 3 yr old who is autistic, he had the most interventions including mag and an emergency c-sec on top of the pit and nubain. We see no evidence of the ADD in the oldest anymore but I don't think my autistic son will ever be without at least some of the autistic characteristics but we have made great strides with him and his diet and he is now able to communicate. Whether he has any degree of ADD or ADHD has yet to be seen.

There are so many factors to consider, I think it may be possible with some that the mode of birth could influence developmental disorders, but it is figuring out who is more likely to be affected and why. My personal opinion is the more natural the better.

We don't have any ADD or ADHD here. My son was born via c/s and the birth was very traumatic. He does have a rare eye nystagmus and he had a hard time swallowing for the first year of life, which caused a lot of projectile vomit. We do not vaccinate. My next will be born at home.

I have read articles about this and the possibility of this happening but I think that it is still in theory more then factual. It is definately something I am glad people are looking into as it is a bit more then coinsidence that ADD/ADHD and Autism have all sky rocketed along with the medical intervention durning the birthing process. But I have not done much more then read a few articles.

I have not seen any research on this subject. It would be great to start researching the topic. I have two boys. My first is 5 and he does not have ADD/ADHD he was born in the hospital and I recieved an epidural. My second was born in the hospital naturally, although he was subject to drugs to stop my labor because I had early labor signs at 32 weeks. He was born at 40 weeks with no interventions or IVs. He is 17 months and healthy so far. My children eat fairly healthy and I try to be aware as much as I can what goes into thier bodies. My third baby is a planned home birth in April. My sis in law has two boys one has severe ADD and the other has a more mild ADD. They were both born via C-section. They also don' t follow the most healthy diets. Hope this helps a little. Let me know if you happen to start a research project on this subject!